Inspired by the Call by Regina George.

On with the one-shot!

DISCALIMER: I own nothing.

"It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope, Which then turned into a quiet thought, Which then turned into a quiet word. And then that word grew louder and louder, 'Til it was a battle cry. I'll come back, when you call me. No need to say goodbye."

-The Call, Regina Spektor

Thalia grinned at the boy. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and wore a brown coat, a leather jacket, and a grey hoodie. His sneakers were completely wrecked. Another runaway, like her.

"So who are you?"

The two of them were still on an adrenaline high from the dragon, so Luke grinned right back at the strange girl. She looked a little younger than him – maybe ten, he was twelve - with bright, electric blue eyes and black hair.

Her punk makeup made her look a little scary, as did her ripped, black jeans and combat boots. The black hoodie she wore didn't help.

"I'm Luke," He introduced himself.

Thalia nodded. "Cool. I'm Thalia. You a demigod?"

It wasn't that much of a longshot. Worst case scenario, he called her crazy and ran away.

Luke blinked. "Uh, yeah. Son of Hermes"

Apparently, the girl could be quite blunt and to the point.

Thalia smiled. "Cool, the messenger guy, right? My dad is Zeus. Anyways, I . . . Well, we made a pretty good team back there."

Luke could sense she wasn't really the emotional, touch-y feel-y type who asked for help. She seemed like somehow who disliked making themselves vulnerable.

Briefly, he wondered what made her that way.

"That we did," Luke agreed. "Wanna stick together?"

Thalia shrugged. "Sure."

"This, Sparkles," Luke stated, "Is the start of something wonderful."

"Don't call me Sparkles," She grumbled, then added, "Skywalker."

Luke stuck his tongue out at her.

Thalia shivered in her black hoodie. The two had stuck together after the dragon in Charlestown, wandering around and fighting monsters.

"Luke, c'mon," Her teeth chattered. "We gotta find somewhere for the night."

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I just don't get why it's this cold in Virginia. Usually it's warmer."

The pair walked in silence, before Luke noticed Thalia shivering. He furrowed his brow.

"Stop." Luke said.

Thalia looked baffled. "What?"

He shrugged off his leather jacket, the one Thalia usually stole and put punk rock bands on.

"Here," Luke offered it to her, "It's practically yours anyways. Besides, I have this."

He gestured to brown coat and the sweatshirt he wore under the leather jacket.

Thalia looked at him gratefully. "Thanks."

Luke could've sworn that she was blushing. But Thalia would not appreciate that. Still, despite her scary appearance, Luke had discovered in the recent weeks that she was such a softie. Unless he pissed her off. It was kind of endearing, really.

After having no company for so long, it was nice to have someone. Thalia understood, too. She was a demigod with Daddy and Mommy issues like him. She finally opened up a little to him the other day at one of their camp fires.

They may have just met, but Luke can't help but feel he's known Thalia his whole life. It was a strange feeling, but not entirely a bad one.

"Hey, can we talk?" Luke asked Thalia.

She was twelve now, and he was fourteen. Annabeth, the little girl they had found after Hal's house, slept comfortably on a sleeping bag in their safe house by the James River. Richmond had been quite the adventure for Thalia and Luke. All because he agreed to follow the magic goat for Thalia.

"Sure," Thalia said, looking a little uncomfortable.

Luke fidgeted nervously as the two of them stood outside.

"So," He said.

"So." Thalia said.

Luke tried to steady his nerves, feeling the place where Thalia kissed his cheek burn.

"Uh, why . . . why'd you kiss my cheek? At Hal's house," Luke said quickly, all in one breath.

Thalia blushed. He was tempted to raise an eyebrow, maybe tease her, but the poor girl looked to be suffering enough. Besides, he was sure he was blushing too, and fourteen-year-old boys did not blush. And Thalia always looked kind of adorable when he got her to blush, too.

"That . . ." She trailed off, grimacing.

Luke pretended to be offended. "Hey! Did I have something nasty on my check?"

Thalia sighed, used to his antics. "Uh, no. It was just - an impulse. I was happy you got the poison out without killing us."

"Oh, okay," Luke tried not to be disappointed. What was he hoping for, anyways?

The two stood in silence for a little while, looking at the stars and stealing glances at each other.

Finally, Thalia said quietly, "We should go back in to the munchkin."

Luke nodded. "Yeah. Who knew you'd be good with kids?"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Ah, shut up, Castellan."

Her leg was injured pretty bad. Nothing a little nectar, ambrosia, and rest couldn't fix up. Luke's eyes fell on the bandages wrapped around her thigh. He sighed worriedly, putting his arm around Thalia, who had decided to use him as a pillow.

Not that he was complaining. The two had often laid together side-by-side. Except, usually Thalia wasn't injured, and unconsciously seeking comfort. A part of him hoped she was just unconsciously seeking him, but he told himself not to get his hopes up.

Luke and Thalia were alone right now, essentially. Annabeth was raiding the convenience store that was above the huge drainage tunnel they were under, which made a little bridge. Their campsite was buy the rocks, closer to the woods.

The wind blew, and Thalia shivered. She automatically curled closer to him.

A small, quiet part of him couldn't help but hope.

Luke fumed after meeting his father at his mother's house. The trio had gone there for supplies. Thalia seriously needed them, and Luke knew there was some ambrosia and nectar at his house. So they had gone. And met Hermes.

He was scaring Annabeth right now, Luke knew that. But he had trouble caring. The anger boiled and churned under his skin, raging hot and fierce.

He wandered away from the campfire until he came on some boulders. Luke climbed atop them, staring out at the valley that stretched before him. Rocks and trees. And monsters somewhere, waiting to kill them. Now or years from now. It didn't matter to them.

It mattered to Luke, though. He wished he could have a normal life and not be a demigod. He wished that him and Thalia were two normal kids who met at school or a study group or something stupid.

"Luke."

He turned around. Thalia had climbed up on the rock with him. She stood next to him and put an arm around him. Luke stood quietly next to her for a few minutes, slowly relaxing.

"You scared Annabeth," Thalia said quietly, breaking the silence.

Luke winced, the guilt now coming in full force.

"I know. I'm sorry," He said.

"Don't say sorry to me," Thalia said softly, hard steel present in her voice. "Say sorry to Annabeth."

Luke sighed. "Okay."

"What's wrong, Luke?" Thalia asked him, "I know you would never scare her life that intentionally."

"It's just," Luke sighed again, "That was the first time I've met my father."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. Her blue eyes seemed brighter in the darkness.

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow," Luke said. "I don't know, I just – got angry."

Thinking about it made that anger almost come back, but Thalia was remarkably a calming presence. Sometimes he felt like she knew how to bring out the best in him. Her and Annabeth. He slung his arm around Thalia, and leaned his head on her head.

She stood still, acting as his anchor of sorts.

His breath misted as he exhaled, the cool night air making it visible. Thalia's own breath was visible, and he stopped leaning on her, instead turned to face her.

"Thalia Grace."

"Don't call me that," She grumbled automatically, her eyes going a little downcast and facing the ground.

"Sorry," Luke said, frowning intently as he stared at her. Thalia looked back up at him.

"Luke?" She cocked her head to the side in an adorable habit she was unaware.

In a moment of either inspiration or stupidity, Luke kissed her. It was short and sweet, her lips soft and his a little chapped from the cold. He pulled away, hugging her close to him. To his relief, she hugged him back, resting her head on his chest.

Luke thought that maybe he was falling in love with this girl; this girl who was his best friend. As long as he had her, he was okay. Grounded. He had a chance, though with what he didn't know.

Thalia struggled up the hill, her leg hurting now more than ever. The stupid Cyclops back in Brooklyn had managed to reinjure it. Around her raged a thunderstorm, the rain pouring down in sheets. Luke kept hanging back to stay with her, while their new found friend Grover helped Annabeth.

They were almost to the top of the hill, and the monsters were literally right at their heels. Thalia turned around to face them, anger burning in her hot and fierce. She would not die like this, hunted like an animal. She refused to.

"Luke, go. Get to safety, help Grover with Annabeth." Thalia told Luke.

His blue eyes found her blue eyes, locking onto them. His thoughts were a little foggy, his actions slower than usual due to the blow on the head from the Cyclops.

"But . . ."

"Go!" Thalia yelled at him. "Help Grover with Annabeth! I'll come back, Skywalker. Stop worrying."

"Never," Luke muttered, giving her a short kiss.

He turned around and ran up the hill, despite his instincts screaming at him to turn around and help Thalia fight. For that was exactly what she was going to do; Luke knew her. Even through the roar of the storm, he heard the crackle of electricity from the end of her spear, the sound of her shield being brought out.

He ran faster, catching up to Grover and Annabeth. The stupid hill somehow seemed impossibly large, the slippery and wet grass not helping matters. Luke took Annabeth from Grover, and they crossed the boundary line.

"Thalia!" Grover yelled. "C'mon!"

They were heading down the other side of the hill now, and Thalia had just reached the top. She battled monsters that Luke could only see as blurry figures through the rain.

He struggled to get to her, feeling the uselessness of his golf club weapon now more than ever. Annabeth struggled too, and Grover was forced to let Luke go to hold onto Annabeth, the younger of the two. Between the two, Grover would rather have Luke go up to fight.

"Thalia! THALIA!" Luke screamed as he ran back up the stupid hill.

"THALIA! NO! I LOVE YOU, YOU STUPID IDIOT!"

Not the most romantic confession ever, but it worked. It got her attention for a brief moment away from the monsters, though Luke knew that was dangerous for her. Thalia blasted them away with some electricity, creating a ten-foot radius around her.

She turned around to face him then, her electric blue eyes locking onto his eyes.

"Love you too!" Thalia called out to him.

She slammed her spear to the ground, and Luke saw a bolt of powerful bolt of lightning hit her, arching out from her to hit the monsters. The force of the blast blew him backwards, and Luke fell into the blackness, struggling to stay awake, dimly hearing people call his names.

Thalia.

Luke awoke lying on a bed in a hospital of some sort.

"Good," A middle aged man said to him.

He had a brown beard and brown hair, wearing a frayed tweed jacket. Luke blinked as he realized the man was a centaur, but he had seen stranger things.

"My name is Chiron. Do you remember any of what happened, Luke?" Chiron asked him.

Hearing a stranger call him by his name was a little weird. He quickly got over it as he became more and more aware, the haze in his mind disappearing.

Luke managed to say, "Thalia."

The thought of her made him panic a little, thinking of his last memory. He struggled to set up, while Chiron gently pushed him down.

"Easy, son. She . . ." Chiron tried to say.

"No," Luke mumbled. "Thalia. Annabeth."

Chiron gave up trying to stop him from standing, and instead watched closely as Luke swung his legs over the side, waiting a moment before standing. When he stood, all the blood rushed to his head, but he gripped the bed and stayed standing.

There was a small figure on the bed next to him. Annabeth. A tiny part of him relaxed as he saw she was safe. Grover sat next to her, looking utterly miserable, but Luke didn't have time to ask him what was wrong.

He needed to find Thalia. She said she'd come back.

Luke couldn't see her in the hospital place, so he left, managing to find the door. He looked around, and his eyes found the large pine tree that was most definitely not on that stupid hill the night before. He fell to his knees.

"No."

He refused to believe it. She said she'd come back. She always kept her word. He hadn't said goodbye, because she said she'd come back.

"Luke . . ." Grover came up next to him, kneeling beside him. "I'm sorry. I know you two were close."

The satyr has no idea. Luke clenched his fists, angry tears welling up in his eyes.

"She said she'd come back," He told Grover.

Grover said nothing. Luke will have to learn the full truth of what happened later, how Thalia was turned into the pine tree. He'll have to face the truth later. But right now, Luke needed to rest. He needed to just cry.

Grover led Luke back into the infirmary. He carefully laid the taller boy back onto his bed, the short burst of adrenaline wearing Luke out, along with a truth his mind was struggling to comprehend. He was drowsy, his eyes drifting shut.

"She told me she'd come back," Luke whispered softly. "She told me she'd come back."

I'm sorry for any mistakes. I have no beta reader, it's just me.

Review. Let me know what you think.